Dealing with the Mundane

[aspearin1]

Is anyone else out there working in an area just outside their expertise, and feeling less than stimulated? I'm in a situation where expectations seem to be low, and workflow is slow, and I fight to stay awake. Any work that comes along, I seem to be able to take care of quickly, but then it sits on someone else's desk for weeks, not getting any closure. So it looks as if I have lots to do, but in reality, I'm waiting for someone esle to fullfill their duty. I have a highly technical background, but I am in a position where a lot of technical services are contracted out. The depth of stimulus comes from telephone conversations with people who are really getting the technical meat of the projects. So I've learned to delegate... when do I learn to DO?

I see a lot of posts from people who are overworked in lean facilities. Are there any others out their who feel they are under-utilized and knee deep in the "fat" of the industry?

ChemE, M.E. EIT
"The only constant in life is change." -Bruce Lee

 

[HVAC68]

Am in a similar situation like you mate, though slightly different. I may not be sounding modest - but many times I find that I am far ahead in both speed and quality and have to wait for somebody to complete their work. The biggest danger with this has been that I end up doing lot of work of others - No, I am not complaining of the extent of work - and in the process probably preventing somebody else from learning too. I try my level best to consciously do only my portion of the work to ensure that others do their work and learn as well - of course, sometimes, in the interest of the organisation, I end up doing other's work too. It's a bit tricky, but have learnt to adapt myself to inefficiencies at various levels. The key is not to have negative feelings towards your colleauges and avoid a superiority complex which can be qutie dangerous.

Well, there's another way out - look for a different job !!!

HVAC68

 

[plasgears]

Eight hours+ is a long time to be working at the various engineering tasks at hand. When I got caught up for a time, I would make meaningful work instructions or design guidelines in my specialty. QS9000 has the structure to do this. I ended up with a 14 part set of published work instructions for my cohorts, assigned personnel, or others after I left the company. This was prompted by the QC mgr, who encouraged writing work instructions.

 

[TomBarsh]

I discovered through a number of jobs/positions in my career that most work eventually becomes routine. This is really something that we should strive for, to make the work routine...this will in general lead to better quality of the results and less time spent doing it.

But this is where it can get interesting: developing new *tools* (the process) to do the *work* (the result). I found that no matter how routine or trivial my job was I could develop new tools, new techniques, new understanding, to make the job go faster, better, cheaper, etc. This is the satisfying part of my work.

I started out at 18 filing drawings in an old time drafting room. I was to spend half the day filing and half the day drafting, this was how it had always been done (likely since 1876). I figured out on my own how to sort and file in the most efficient way possible and by gawd I was the best damn drawing-filer they'd ever had! This carried through to my later work as a draftsman, and into my career as a degreed engineer.

For example, now we have CAD software to make engineering drawings instead of doing them by hand. Once proficient this can be a lot faster than doing by hand. We can even re-use some of the older work too leading to improved efficiency. But how about getting really creative and figuring out how to program the CAD software to actually make the drawings based on some simple data input...this is where productivity gets exponential gains!

Well, I guess my point in all this is that regardless of the position that I've worked in I was always able to look around and find ways to entertain myself either by learning new and better ways to get the work done, or to learn new and interesting (and exciting) aspects of engineering and mathematics (or other things), etc.

It just takes some intellectual curiousity and an inquisitiveness to do so. On the other hand, I do realize that some positions may be in an office in which creativity and free-thinking is squelched and ruthlessly rooted out and violators sent to the re-education camps. It's likely best for anyone with half-a-brain to leave such a place immediately.

Also, sometimes a bit of the mundane is good. It's restful; we can't be going at full tilt all the time.

 

[epoisses]

A bit of the mundane may be good... but just a tiny bit!
I found out that work that may be mundane to one person, may be exciting when delegated to somebody else. I delegated things to secretaries and holiday workers which I had doubts whether they would be able to do it. And yes, things got messed up sometimes, but in general they loved it and learnt fast how to do things right, while I could devote time to what I preferred doing. There's nothing wrong with having people report to you who learn and learn and eventually become more capable of doing certain things than yourself.